Sat 19th Dec.
I opted out of a trip with the lads, to go running with Mary instead. Partly because we do have fun, but partly because I would have had to break various covid guidelines to run with the lads in terms of travelling beyond boundaries and in cars, (not to mention all the kissing). Instead Mazza and I did an old favourite we haven't done for a while: the Airport Route. We packed for a longer trip but were quite late in starting and there was neither the daylight or enthusiasm for anything more than these 7.7 miles.
If we had left earlier we might have enjoyed the glorious light of the end of the day round about the middle of our session instead of getting it all at the outset. However it did make the interlude with the black headed gulls at Cramond, just absolutely fab. I never tire of these aerial acrobats and their squawking. And they are always friendly at this time of the year. It made for 5 mins of Hitchcockian fun and games before we set off up the Almond.
hop along
Unfortunately the sun hid behind low clouds for much of the rest of the run. Occasionally it would pop back out but mostly it was that late twilight effect which seems to be okay while you are out there but when you get back all the photos suggest you were running in half light.
edge of the field was less muddy than between the trees
I last took a photo of this graffiti back in March 2017. It is lasting quite well. I like the colours though have never with any certainty known what it says. I often take the same photos again and again. The same places or visuals calling out to me. Sometimes because I remember it made a decent image last time, although I think if you wiped my memory I'd take the same photo thinking I'd discovered it for the first time. This cyclist stopped and asked if we knew where we were. He had followed his nose looking for short cuts and the amount of mud was beginning to appeal less. We guided him back to firmer ground suggesting the way up the riverside that we were going would probably be pretty bad. We hadn't seen it in ages but know it gets churned up by the Winter dog-walkers.
A bit further along and I was busy saying to Mary that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. Instant jinxification and we were shin deep in splosh getting yet another pair of trail shoes too filthy to wear indoors. We spent the next half mile jumping either side of the ankle deep puddles and sludge. Really quite unpleasant and the sort of thing that puts off a return visit till Spring.
Nice to turn the corner at the bridge and cross the field next to the airport. Another of those pictures I always take is of the yellow stanchions halfway along the field in line with the runway. Oddly I never thought about how they looked from the other direction, ie their purpose. Right enough we're mostly here in daylight.
I was cursing as it was a bit too dark to get a decent photo of a flock of goldfinches that landed just beside us. It was so poorly lit I thought they were sparrows. The camera struggled to make anything of it and the photo, as the birds flew off, was rubbish.
I always take this pic too (enjoying the foreshortening) - just before Mary turns left into Nether Lennie. Although I think the folk that live there have removed the sign saying that and replaced it with one saying private road. Who needs strangers turning their cars in your garden in the wee hours looking for dogging spots. And there is nothing else down there except a couple of farmhouses, then a track back to the riverside trail.
These were nearer berry size than apple size. Crab apples?
It had never really occurred to me that, of course, these are lights for the planes to line up the approach to the runway. We really only see them close up from the other side. However as it was darker than usual they were all lit up today.
I have to stop taking standard view mediocre photos. There was nothing of interest at the Grotto Bridge over the rapids. The water was higher than average but lower than early December. No need for a photo. Just took one out of habit. Similarly, I forced myself to run past the weir above Cramond on the return leg, without taking a photo. But it was quite hard work - like stepping on the cracks between paving slabs rather than stepping over them. Trying to be in control of one's habits and practice. Refine the good ones and drop the unhelpful ones. The weir is often spectacular but on this occasion just wasn't, and did not merit a gloomy photo.
Someone had decorated this random riverside tree. I give that a total thumbs up. If you have to put baubles on a tree, then do it on a living one rather than murder one and bring it indoors for a fortnight then throw it out afterwards. Generally I dislike the cheap trashy plastic paraphernalia of Xmas with a capital X. But I am trying not to be too grinchy and just walk away rather than shout and rant. I have been caught ranting (generally on social media) as well so that plan isn't foolproof. I think I can walk past so much but after a few days of build up or maybe repellent things on the TV, it gets beyond the point of outburst and there is an explosion of contrariness. I have to say I am pro-cancel-christmas. Although I was a bit disappointed to see some stalls just off Princes St the other day which looked very like the sort of thing we weren't going to get, given the German Market auf wiedersehen story. My inner Scrooge began to frown but I moved swiftly on. I suppose there are those who have to earn a living selling that shit.
a lot of mud today - but fun too.
under 8miles, under 2hrs
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